The US has formally accused the Russian government of attempting to meddle in November’s presidential election and blamed Russia for a series of cyber attacks, including the hacking of the Democratic National Committee.

In a joint statement, the Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence on Election Security said it was now “confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organisations”.

“These theft and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow,” US authorities said. “We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorised these activities.”